October 1, 2014
While many of the stories in Marcus's (The Flame Alphabet) new collection are far more accessible than much of his earlier work, there are plenty of experimental pieces here. New listeners should enjoy writerly in-jokes (such as a third-person story about a writing teacher, which includes an observation that writing in the third person avoids the self-pity problem inherent in stories written in the first person) and marvel at what Marcus can do with a short story that consists largely of waiting at the coffee cart at work. Those who haven't encountered Marcus before need to be prepared for a set of works about miserable men, brilliantly crafted by an author whose favorite words seem to include moist and swollen and who returns almost unrelentingly to such themes as masturbation, shame, and the bleakest possible kind of survival. Expert readers Andrew Garman, George Guidall, Brian Hutchison, and Andy Paris take on the task, each with an effective deadpan style that is particularly helpful where the language is more challenging and where listeners might struggle to get a feel for the unspoken rules of Marcus's world but still hope to get at the essence of the story. VERDICT For fans of the author, who will delight in another volume of tales told in his unique voice, and for those who enjoy envelope-pushing literary fiction. ["The two halves offset each other, but the entirety will appeal almost exclusively to the avant-garde," read the review of the Knopf hc, LJ 9/1/13.]--Heather Malcolm, Bow, WA
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 22, 2013
The second collection from Marcus (The Flame Alphabet) is a peculiar, funny, original analysis of the human psyche and modern language. Split into six parts, the volume fluctuates between traditional narrative (the opener, “What Have You Done?,” acts as a “stranger in a strange land” tale: a man reluctantly visits his family, only to learn his present self cannot erase memories of his younger, wilder past) and more experimental fare (the title story, for example, unspools in one breathless, exhilarating sentence). Communication is important to the author, and throughout, characters employ unusual linguistic skills, renaming common tasks (sex becomes “lust applications”) and speaking about common phrases as if they are alien (“These changes in temperatures were called moods and they had interesting foreign names, but I no longer recall them,” the narrator in “First Love” muses). The protagonists of most of the stories are men, and often their conflicts are flared by worried, overactive imaginations. “The Moors” plots the increasingly elaborate digressions of a man as he trails a coworker to an office coffee machine, spiraling a mundane experience into a psychological death march, while “Watching Mysteries with My Mother” and “The Loyalty Protocol” parse the responsibilities of caring for aging parents. A very strong collection. Agent: Denise Shannon, Denise Shannon Literary Agency.